Water and Poison
by Meagan Snow
Summary: When Misty had to go, Ash never really forgot. Neither did Misty. When Ash finishes the Sinnoh league, he comes back to Kanto to celebrate. But it never feels truly happy. And when a simple visit to the beach takes a deadly turn... SatoKasu all the way :
1. Corsola

**Hey my awesome readers!**

**I recentlydiscovered the best author ever. She's KittyKatLovesBooks. **

**I love her writin style, anD I want to try to imitate it in a (several chapter) flufflet dedicated to her and her awesome writing skills. **

**Without further ado, **

**Here it is!**

"…Hey Ash!" Dawn called, gesturing to the following poster:

_  
~~~| _**Pokémon Beauty Show! **_~~~**  
**~~~_One day only! __Only for the TOP Coordinators!_~~~

_Narrator: Our heroes_ _were journeying to Ash's home through Kanto after Ash had challenged the Pokémon League. That day they had arrived in beautiful Fuchsia City on their way and decided to spend the day there._

"I'm gonna check it out!" The blunette called, striking a pose. "I've polished up my Pokémon's Beauty stats for the upcoming Contest and now I'm ready to show off our stuff! Wanna come, boys?"

"I'll go!" Brock volunteered. "I can enter Vulpix and check out all the skilled Pokémon!"

"Not to mention their cute trainers, huh?" Dawn teased. "How about you, Ash? You coming?"

Ash knew exactly what was going to happen. He could see it in his head already: a huge runway parading with pretty Pokémon, then a photo session lasting hours with him asleep in the back of the studio, then a makeup session and another photo shoot…

"Nah, I'll go beachcombing instead" he offered. Dawn answered with a shrug.

"Alright! See yah!" she called, giving him a wave and setting off toward the building with the banner on it, Brock in tow.

Ash quickly became bored with beachcombing, so he decided to go swimming. Going off to a less crowded strip of beach a bit further, he dove into the cold water, passing by all the signs heedlessly.

_WARNING! Tentacruel territory._ _Wading only!_

_ATTENTION! Never swim without a partner!_

_TENTACRUEL TERRITORY! Stay out of deep water!_

Pikachu at his heels, Ash never even saw the signs in his rush to cool off on that hot summer day. Pikachu preferred to stay in the shallow waters, while the raven-haired boy swam out to deepwater, seeing a few Corsola playing on the bottom.

He felt a small twinge of sadness. Misty. Misty had always loved Corsola.

He decided to dive down to see the Corsola, maybe find a dropped piece of the coral on their backs. It would feel like a memento of Misty to him.

Taking a deep breath, he quickly swam down to the bottom. It was pretty deep, three or four yards down, and it was beautiful. The ocean shimmered around him, and he could see little flocks of Lumineon swimming so close he could practically touch them.  
He felt that twinge again. The ocean water made him think of Misty's eyes, not-quite-green yet not-quite-blue.

The Corsola scattered as he came down toward them, however. Ash wondered why they were scared. Surely they saw a lot of divers down here.

There! Ash spotted a piece of coral as thick as his two fingers and maybe six inches long. Perfect!

He quickly grabbed it, and, feeling his air was running out, quickly directed himself toward the surface, propelling himself upwards, hampered by the object he clutched in his hand.

Suddenly, he felt something wrap around his ankle and pull him down, stopping him from reaching the surface. Looking down, he saw a large Tentacruel.

_Oh, so that's why the Corsola ran away_ he thought vaguely, his head spinning from lack of air. _I guess I should too… ha, ha… I can't, I've got this thing latched onto my ankle... _Everythingswam around murkily in his oxygen-deprived mind.  
The water seemed a strange reddish tint and black spots were erupting in front of his eyes, but he felt happy, strangely wasn't sad. Why should he be? Misty would be waiting for him on the shore, shouting at him for annoying the Tentacruel.  
What he didn't realize was that there was a poison sting in the tentacle that had caught him.  
And even the Tentacruel didn't realize that the venom he had just injected into his lunch was specialized through evolution totemporarily flood the victim's brain a wave of with endorphins, keeping it happy and therefore still, and- if by some miracle it got away- it contained a slow poison, lethal to most living things (except Snorlax and other Tentacruel). All it knew was that his lunch would be nice and still as he took it home.

Ash's last thought was that at least he hadn't lost the coral ("_It's so nice, I bet Misty will like it…_") as his spinning mind slowlyfaded to black.

**Duh duh duhhhhh**

**Cliff hanger!**

**R&R? Should I continue this? Is it good?**

**Am I good with this style?**


	2. Misty

**Thanks somuch to Pokedexter and Diginerd for reviewing! -hands cookies-**

**And if you read, please take the time to review this. I've neverdone a flufflet before and I'd like to know if everyone is IC? How about it? **

**-offers Poffins-**

**Let it begin!**

Misty was at the beach near Fuchsia, looking for Shellder. She had left the Gym, with all her Pokémon, in Daisy's care.

She had offered to replace Misty for a while. Not a common thing for Misty to hear from one of her sisters, but she assumed they just wanted to do some sort of a synchronized swimming show or something in the Gym challenge hall and wanted their little sister out of the way.

Normally, she would object, but it was just for the weekend. Two days. The challengers could wait that long. And Misty justneeded some time off.

And now she was getting a bit lonely. She strolled along a strip of beach, gazing at the ocean. It was beautiful today. She was getting near the Tentacruel territory, and every so often she could see the shimmering form of one passing near the surface.

Suddenly, she saw flash of black hair out of the corner of her eye. "Ash?" she whispered, turning around.

She saw a dark-haired boy jumping into the water a ways was far enough that she couldn't tell who it was, maybe a hundred yards.

It's a mistake. It has to be, she told herself. Ash is somewhere in Sinnoh right now.

And even if it is. He probably doesn't even remember me. Remember the photo?  
Brock had sent her a picture of them from Sinnoh recently. The two of them were joined by another girl, with deep blue hair and a winning smile. In a flash of anger, she had crumpled it and thrown it in the trash.  
A few minutes later, she had pulled it out, smoothed it, and placed it on her billboard.  
Remember that? He probably doesn't remember you exist.  
Don't do it, Misty, stay put, stay put, stay…

Misty found her feet, as if without her own will, begin moving in that direction.

When she was maybe fifty yards away, she noticed the boy going underwater and not resurfacing for a long time. Feeling a twinge of worry, she picked up her pace.

The Pikachu standing in the water, calling out to its owner frantically, only confirmed her worst fears. Still approximately a pool's-length away, she slid out of the shorts she had on over her suit, dropped her beach bag in the sand, and dove into the water, swimming as fast as she could.

She kept her face submerged in the water, eyes open for… there! She saw a small dark-haired figure suspended in the water, seemingly unconscious. She also saw the cause of him not being able to surface: a large, mean-looking Tentacruel.

She quickly dove down, seeming to fly in the water, until she reached the boy.

It is Ash, she realized with a pang of guilt.  
She was suddenly tempted to leave him where he was (He never told me he was coming back to Kanto!) but stifled it and got to work on the tentacle wrapped around his ankle.

Gripping it, she realized it was too tightly wound. She motioned for the creature to scram, but it only glared at her insolently.

Equal parts steaming mad and worried (not to mention seriously rethinking her opinion on Tentacruel) she struggled with the tentacle. She was running out of time.  
Sure, being able to swim before she could walk made her able to hold her breath a long time, but she wasn't a fish!  
With a final tug, she managed to free the raven-haired boy from the Tentacruel and propelled them toward the surface with the last of her air, positioned so that the unconscious boy in her arms would get to the surface even if she didn't make it.

**So what do you think? Do you like it?**

**Do you even hate it? I'd like to know if you did. **

**Updates soon, if you like, dear readers!**


	3. Water and?

**Hey all you Pokéshippers out there!**

**Finally, the long-awaited update. I know everyone was like "MEG NO WHAT ARE YOU THINKING NOT UPDATING THIS FOR PS DAY" and I'm sorry! **

**Anyway, let's all lift our glasses to my new Beta/favorite art critic, CaptainPiika! ~lifts class full of cherry juice that looks like wine~**

**Flame: Let's rock this chapter and review to stimulate Meagan to write faster!**

**...Get back in Misty's head, Flame, she needs you...**

_Air_!

Misty could see the silvery surface right above her. She started gulping down air even before she had broken the surface completely.  
The first couple of breaths came back up, laced with water as she strained to keep herself and Ash afloat, but the ones after that were clean, sweet, beautiful air.  
She wanted nothing more than to get to shore and sleep for a week, but some force wouldn't allow her to just ditch Ash on the beach.  
_Leave him on the beach. Call a lifeguard. Go home. _She tried to convince herself as she swam, using the rescue stroke her sisters had taught her, every so often checking to see if Ash's head was above the water.  
_Seeing you will only stir up bad memories. Stay invisible. It could have as well been a passing swimmer helping out a drowning boy._  
She pulled Ash onto the beach and checked his breathing. Pretty stable. She almost collapsed with relief.  
What worried her was that by now he should be coughing, stirring, coming to.  
Something drew her eye. She spotted a strange mark on his ankle. It looked like…  
_Oh, no. Arceus, no. _She had forgotten Tentacruel were water and poison. Her breathing became more rapid as she began to panic.  
"Pikapi? Pikapi!" Pikachu jumping around shouting his Trainer's name wasn't helping.  
She took a deep breath and tried to recall what she had to do.  
…Oh right. She had flunked Poison Control class, even though she had passed everything else with A's. _Might've known it would come to haunt me… _Oh, the times Daisy had teased her about it…  
Suddenly, it struck her. Daisy. That was it.  
She jumped up and ran across the sand toward the place where she had stripped of her overwear and tote bag. Ash was with Pikachu, she reasoned. He would be okay.  
_So much for incognito…_  
She picked up the bag and dashed back, ignoring the pain in her side. She groped around in her bag as she ran. There! Her hand closed around her pale blue Pokégear with its waterproof casing.  
She half-kneeled, half-skidded as she got to her friend, flipping through apps frantically. Camera! Yes! She aimed the device toward Ash's ankle, then composed a quick text:  
{To: DW  
helpng drwng swmr. tntcrl psn. sos!}  
While she waited for a return text, she used the first-aid she knew to help Ash. Step one: avoid sunstroke. Find somewhere shaded. Misty looked around. There was an abandoned-looking cabin a bit through the trees beyond the beach.  
She picked Ash up by the arms, placing him on her back awkwardly. "Grab my tote bag, Pikachu?"  
"Pika!" he confirmed, grabbing the aforementioned object. It was almost bigger and heavier than he was. "Pii…kah…" he groaned as he dragged the object across the sand.  
Twenty yards… ten… five…  
Misty pushed at the door. Unlocked. Thank God.  
She looked around frantically. The whole place had an abandoned feel to it, and at least half an inch of dust was laying everywhere.  
With a final effort, she laid Ash down on a bare bunk protruding from the wall that looked pretty steady.  
Trying to ignore how much it looked like an operating table, especially with the light coming down through a hole in the roof more than through the dirt-caked windows, she flipped open her phone.  
{1 new message from DW}  
She tapped the 'open message' button, reading the attached help.  
{Tntcrl psn is dangerous. U have to get it out in 24 hours or the nrvs sstm shuts down.}  
_Some help._  
The phone vibrated as another text came in.  
{Get hm/hr 2 PC ASAP. Make a tourniquet to slow the psn. GO!}  
_No! No, no, why must it end like this?_ Something inside her wailed. The thirteen-year-old scared for her friend. But she wasn't just that. There was a little something, a little fiber of steel inside her heart that would break rather than bend to the circumstances.  
_It's not over yet, Waterflower, and don't you forget that._  
She took a deep breath and composed another message to Daisy.  
{im alone and far frm pc. thr hs 2 b smthg more I can do}  
Almost instantly, there was another message.  
{It's not easy.}  
It's never easy, dear Daisy. You as a Waterflower should know that.

{What is it?}

**Here we go. I hope it wasn't as horrible as I think it was. Comment? Let me know?**

**Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me!**

**Misty, Flame: US!**

**Meg: Us! If you wanna reach us!**


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